Brassieres



y 19, 1959 M. GINGRAS 2,887,113

, BRASSIERES Filed June 27, 1957 120 5 70/? M001 G/NGR/hi United States Patent Q Dominion Corset Company Limited, Quebec, Quebec, Canada Application June 27, 1957, Serial No. 668,532

3 Claims. (Cl. 128-491) This invention relates to brassieres and more particularly to improvements in the construction of the underarm sections of the brassiere to give added comfort to the wearer and to take care of normal variations from the armpit to the front shoulder strap positions to prevent any possible gaping of the garment on its upper underarm position.

The invention consists essentially in making the top underarm edges of the breast pockets and side panels elastically stretchable in the circumferential direction of the garment by securing a length of narrow elastic material to the inside underarm sections of the breast pockets and side panel of the garment, the elastic material being secured to the non-elastic material of the garment by zigzag stitching having a light tension, giving a degree of contraction to the non-elastic material overlying the elastic material.

A particular object of the invention is to make the top underarm edge of the breast pockets and side panels of a brassiere stretchable in the circumferential direction of the garment.

A further object of the invention is to make the top underarm edges of a brassiere stretchable to allow the garment to accommodate itself readily to any normal variations from the armpit to the front shoulder strap position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a brassiere in which the top underarm edge will have greater stretchability in the breast pocket section than in the side panel section.

A further object of the invention is to provide a brassiere in which the non-elastic material of the brassiere is contracted along the upper underarm edges of the garment and is supported in the contracted position by an underlying narrow strip of elastic material.

The above and other objects and characteristic features of the invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a brassiere in which the upper, underarm edges of the breast pockets and side panels are stretchable in a circumferential di rection.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial front elevational view of the brassiere shown in Fig. l and showing in greater de tail the stretchable underarm edge of the garment.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section of the upper underarm edge of the brassiere showing the first operation of attaching the elastic material to the non-elastic material of the garment.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of Fig. 3 showing the first seam of zig-zag stitching joining the elastic material to the fabric of the garment.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical section on the line 55 of Fig. 2 showing the elastic material folded over on the inside of the garment and secured thereto by a second seam of zig-zag stitching.

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of Fig. 5 showing the sec- 2 ond seam of zig-zag stitching joining the elastic material to the fabric of the garment.

Referring to the drawings, the brassiere 5 may be of any of the well known forms, and is here shown as having a pair of breast pockets 6 and 7 attached along their lower edges to the waist band 8 by the seam 9, and a pair of body encircling side panels 10 secured along their front vertical edges to the side edges .11 of the breast pockets 6 and 7. The side panels 10'areprovided at their free rear ends (not shown) with suitable fastening elements for securing the brassiere about the wearer. Shoulder strap loops 12 are secured to the top edge of each of the breast pockets 6 and 7, and shoulder straps 13 are secured to the rear portion of the side panels 10 and are held in adjusted length in the strap holding and adjusting clasps 14 engaged by the loops 12.

The top underarm edges 15 and 16 of the brassiere, extending from the shoulder strap loops 12 to the rear ends of the side panels 10 are made elastically stretchably by bands of tucking 17 and 18. The bands of rucking 16 and 17 are formed by securing a narrow band 19 of flexible elastic material near the top edge of the non-elastic fabric 20 of the breast pockets 6 and 7 and of the side panels 10. The band of elastic material is secured, along one of its longitudinal edges, to the fabric 20 by a row of zig-zag stitching 21, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The band of elastic material 19 is then folded on itself inside the brassiere and is secured thereto along its other longitudinal edge to the fabric 20 of the breast pockets and side panels by a second row of zig-zag stitching 22, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

The band 19 of elastic material is sewn in place to the fabric 20 with a very light tension to produce a series of rucks 23 in the fabric 20, the rucks 23 being disposed transversely of the length of the band 19 and fading out into the fabric 20 below the lower row of stitching 22.

The rucks 23 of the material 20 in the area A between the front shoulder strap loops 12 and the side edges 11 of the breast pockets 6 and 7 have a greater concentration per unit of length of the underlying band 19 of elastic material than in the area B between the side edges 11 of the breast pockets 6 and 7 and the rear ends of the side panels 10. This greater concentration of rucks 23 at the top edges of the breast pockets 6 and 7 provide a greater degree of elasticity in the underarm sections of the breast pockets 6 and 7 than in the underarm sections of the side panels 10, allowing for normal variations in this area and giving to the brassiere a degree of contraction in this area which will prevent any possible gaping of the garment. The expansion and contraction allowed by the above described construction of the upper underarm edges of the brassiere also provides a softening of these underarm edges and a degree of comfort which is not possible when the underarm edges have seams formed in the relatively non-stretchable fabric from which the breast pockets and side panels are normally made.

The heavier concentration of rucks 23 in the area A of the top edge of the breast pockets 6 and 7 then is provided in the area B of the top edges of the side panels 10, provide a greater degree of stretchability and comfort in that area than would normally be required in the underarm edge of the side panels. However, both areas A and B stretch in unison with each other and the variations in stretch over the whole length of the underarm sections can be varied as desired by changing the degree of tension imparted to the rows of stitching 21 and 22 and by the number of rucks 23 per unit of length so produced in the fabric 20.

What I claim is:

1. In a brassiere having a pair of breast pockets and a pair of body encircling side panels joined to said breast pockets along their outer side edges, a band of flexible elastic material having one edge thereof sewn to the outer surface of the top underarm edge of said breast pockets and said body-encircling side panels, the said band of flexible elastic material being folded over against the inner surface-of the top underarm edge of said breast pockets and body encircling side panels to conceal the sewing therebetween, the other edge of said band of flexible elastic material being sewn to the inner surface of the underarm portion of the said breast pockets and side panels, the said band of flexible elastic material being sewn in place with zig-zag stitching with light tension to contract the relatively non-elastic material of the breast pockets and side panels to form a series of racks in the non-elastic material of the breast pockets and side panels, the said rucks being disposed transversely of the length of the underlying flexible material.

2. In a brassiere as set forth in claim 1, in which the zig-zag stitching securing the flexible elastic material to the garment is sewn to the underarm edge of the breast pockets with less tension than is applied to the stitching of the flexible elastic material to the side panels.

3. In a brassiere as set forth in claim 1, in which a greater number of rucks per unit of length are formed on the breast pockets than on the side panels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,054,519 Dryfoos Feb, 25, 1913 1,277,007 Weiss Aug. 27, 1918 1,647,7 61 Waxman Nov. 1, 1927 2,443,95l Fenton June 22, 1948 2,651,779 Schaumer Sept. 15, 1953 

